Dr. Arthur Franklin Raper (November 8, 1899 - August 10, 1979) was a rural sociologist originally from Davidson County, North Carolina. In the 1930s, he became a part time professor at Agnes Scott College. While living and working in the Atlanta area, he became involved with interracial activities such as the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, and others to increase positive interractions between the races. Later, he became a social scientist for the federal government, working on Southern and global agricultural and social reform. He died in 1970 in Oakton, Virginia.